In many different types of literature, movies, or shows, wordplay is often a strong component of the writer's style or the tone of the medium. It is often used for humor or to make fun of certain people in real life. It also shows the author's creative ability and skill at writing. An author who uses wordplay is often found as clever and funny.
In such books like Alice in Wonderland, the wordplay is used for just that. Although most of the humor is lost to modern readers, so much of what Lewis Carroll put in the book was used to make fun of people from English society at that time. For example, he used a lot of syntaxbecause it showed how some people were stuck up and were always so proper and tried to correct other people. In the book, almost all the characters correct Alice at some point either for something she says, or something she does. Furthermore, he mostly did it just to be creative or funny. Puns were used many times by Carroll to make humor and poke fun at English culture during the Victorian era. One pun having to do with the mock turtle deals withmock turtlesoup, a somewhat popular dish at the time in England. Carroll creates the mock turtle character with the body of a turtle but the head, legs, and tail of a calf. This is because mock turtle soup is actually made of the meat from young cows that is not usually used like from the head. The meat is used to mock that of turtle meat, hence the name mock turtle soup. This is just one of many examples of word play in his book.
Wordplay is also used for satire, which is found commonly throughout Alice in Wonderland. It is also found in many other works of literature like the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this book, Mark Twain makes fun of many different people and problems with society during that time period in the United States. Mainly it was used to put a bad image on slavery and state how none of it made any sense. Satire can be a very powerful tool in getting people to think a certain way. Steve Colbert from the "Colbert Report" is very influential and is able to put his own spin on current issues. Many people who watch his show automatically take up his opinions or believe everything he says. Another instance would be the well known acts done byTina Feyon the show "Saturday Night Live" to portray Sarah Palin. Fey often made Palin look very stupid or annoying and because Tina was able to act, and especially look, just like Palin, some people almost couldn't tell who was who and they thought the SNL Palin was very much like the real one and it affected their vote. This is because they thought she was very dumb and no one wanted her to be in any kind of executive office.
Obviously, word play can be a very powerful device in literature and entertainment and it has a very strong capability of influencing people, or getting them to notice a writer's creative style.
Why Authors Use Wordplay
In many different types of literature, movies, or shows, wordplay is often a strong component of the writer's style or the tone of the medium. It is often used for humor or to make fun of certain people in real life. It also shows the author's creative ability and skill at writing. An author who uses wordplay is often found as clever and funny.
In such books like Alice in Wonderland, the wordplay is used for just that. Although most of the humor is lost to modern readers, so much of what Lewis Carroll put in the book was used to make fun of people from English society at that time. For example, he used a lot of syntax because it showed how some people were stuck up and were always so proper and tried to correct other people. In the book, almost all the characters correct Alice at some point either for something she says, or something she does. Furthermore, he mostly did it just to be creative or funny. Puns were used many times by Carroll to make humor and poke fun at English culture during the Victorian era. One pun having to do with the mock turtle deals with mock turtle soup, a somewhat popular dish at the time in England. Carroll creates the mock turtle character with the body of a turtle but the head, legs, and tail of a calf. This is because mock turtle soup is actually made of the meat from young cows that is not usually used like from the head. The meat is used to mock that of turtle meat, hence the name mock turtle soup. This is just one of many examples of word play in his book.
Wordplay is also used for satire, which is found commonly throughout Alice in Wonderland. It is also found in many other works of literature like the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this book, Mark Twain makes fun of many different people and problems with society during that time period in the United States. Mainly it was used to put a bad image on slavery and state how none of it made any sense. Satire can be a very powerful tool in getting people to think a certain way. Steve Colbert from the "Colbert Report" is very influential and is able to put his own spin on current issues. Many people who watch his show automatically take up his opinions or believe everything he says. Another instance would be the well known acts done by Tina Fey on the show "Saturday Night Live" to portray Sarah Palin. Fey often made Palin look very stupid or annoying and because Tina was able to act, and especially look, just like Palin, some people almost couldn't tell who was who and they thought the SNL Palin was very much like the real one and it affected their vote. This is because they thought she was very dumb and no one wanted her to be in any kind of executive office.
Obviously, word play can be a very powerful device in literature and entertainment and it has a very strong capability of influencing people, or getting them to notice a writer's creative style.